Electron-Phonon Interactions, Metal-Insulator Transitions, and Holographic Massive Gravity

ABSTRACT

Massive gravity is holographically dual to “realistic” materials with momentum relaxation. The dual graviton potential encodes the phonon dynamics, and it allows for a much broader diversity than considered so far. We construct a simple family of isotropic and homogeneous materials that exhibit an interaction-driven metal-insulator transition. The transition relates to the formation of polarons—phonon-electron quasibound states that dominate the conductivities, shifting the spectral weight above a mass gap. We characterize the polaron gap, width, and dispersion.